People specs

In technology-oriented projects such as gas and oil engineering and construction, there is often an expectation that project managers will have significant technical experience. But there is also a strong need for management competency, not only in the tools and techniques of project management mentioned above, but also in what PMI describes as the ‘interpersonal skills’ – communication, influencing, motivation, negotiation, conflict management and problem solving.

Naturally the ideal solution would be that all project managers combined high levels of both of these important areas of competence, but the reality is that organisations frequently have to make a choice between them due to staff and project pressures. This can cause serious problems if the result is an unbalanced focus. Technical specialists may ensure a good understanding of requirements and deliver effective solutions to project problems within their area of expertise, but may fail to monitor the overall situation and fall prey to problems with schedule and cost.

Conversely, project managers without sufficient knowledge of the project technology may develop unrealistic plans or fail to appreciate the impact of technical problems. In the longer term, organisations need a strategic approach to recruiting and/or developing suitable project management staff so that compromise choices influenced by staff shortages or skills gaps do not continue to impact (or risk impacting) project success. In the shorter term there are a number of factors that influence the relative importance of each side of the ‘technical vs. management’ question.

Project size

An obvious point, but the larger the project the more likely that individual skills and knowledge can be combined within a project management team to cover all of the required areas of competence. Saudi Aramco’s use of complementary cross-functional project teams was acknowledged as a factor in both of the company’s two awards for the PMI’s ‘Project of the Year’ awards2. It needs to be remembered, however, that many of the interpersonal skills are critical factors in ensuring that cross-functional teams are effective, so these will be key competencies for those leading the team.

In small projects, where an individual may be responsible for project management, the ‘team’ solution can still be applied, but requires even better leadership and communication. Assuming that there will be staff with technical expertise carrying out the work of the project – whether internal or contracted – an individual with good management expertise can create a ‘virtual project team’ by seeking the advice and engagement of technical staff in estimating, planning and problem solving activities.

A purely technical specialist may be the worst choice of project manager if the project is not straightforward, since there will often be a temptation to ‘micro-manage’ current technical problems at the expense of the management overview and preventing future difficulties.

Contractor issues

Given the prevalence of lump sum turn key (LSTK) contracts in oil and gas projects, the competence of – and relationship with – a major contractor is another factor worth considering. It could be argued that there is less need for a skilled project manager on the customer side of a single LSTK project with a highly experienced and trusted contractor. However, once again the project manager’s key competencies should be chosen to compliment the project situation.

If the contractor is technically very familiar with the project activities and trusted to identify and deal with problems, then management skills are probably the priority in handling the front-end definition and planning, and co-ordinating the contractor activity with customer preparation and signoff. If the customer does not have confidence in the contractor’s handling of technical problems – but still chooses to use them – then technical shadowing and proactive quality assurance may require good technical knowledge on behalf of the customer’s project manager.

Project familiarity

Eddie Obeng’s model3 classifies projects into four types on the basis of the level of uncertainty associated with outcome (what the project will deliver) and process (how the outcome is to be achieved). This provides a useful indication of which of our two competency areas will be most useful to the project manager in certain types of project. In ‘Paint by Numbers’ projects – clear deliverables and familiar processes – the choice of project manger skill sets will be less critical, as both planning accuracy and technical predictability are likely to be high. For the two mid-range categories, project managers will be in most need of the skill that relates to the uncertain aspects of the project.

So the key competency for project managers in a ‘Making a Movie’ project – uncertain outcomes (often due to differing or conflicting stakeholder objectives) but regularly applied processes – will be the management skills required to clarify and agree the purpose and deliverables. Technical competency in this type of project will be a lower priority as the processes and technology are familiar to the organisation. In contrast, ‘Quest’ projects – clearly defined deliverables, but little experience of the process of achieving them – calls for considerable technical expertise on behalf of project mangers in order to understand the issues involved in identifying and developing solutions.

The final project classification – ‘Walking in Fog’ – describes poorly defined and unfamiliar projects. Arguably, organisations should not undertake such projects let alone select project mangers for them. Many people, however, may be familiar with this situation in internal organisational projects such as ‘I want this department to become world class’, or ‘We need our staff to be better motivated’. Management competency is the only skill set likely to provide a project manger with the confidence and assertiveness required to insist on the reassessment of the project rather than attempting to plan and implement it without reducing at least one aspect of uncertainty.

Project management maturity

There are a number of models for assessing an organisation’s level of maturity in running projects. Most of these focus on the consistency of application of project management processes – for example ranging from ‘Ad-hoc’ (no prescribed processes, approach left to individual project managers), to ‘Sustained’ (an effective, holistic project methodology, continuing to develop in line with organisational and wider requirements)4.

With regard to project managers’ skill sets, the less mature the organisation’s approach then the more critical that the management competencies will be in the absence of clear guidelines and supporting documentation and processes. It’s an interesting reflection that more mature project organisations commonly set up significant levels of support – such as Project Management Offices (PMOs) – to reduce the management burden on staff responsible for key projects. In these organisations, technical staff often find the transition to project management responsibility a far easier, and more positive experience.

Availability of training and coaching

It should be remembered that, while developing technical competence may involve significant periods to obtain qualifications and experience, project management skills and knowledge can often be developed relatively quickly given suitable resources. Initial training in the management aspects of running projects may require as little as one or two weeks and can be highly effective for technical staff providing that good quality training is then supported by on the job coaching. Once again, good practice is demonstrated within Saudi Aramco’s Projects of the Year where less experienced engineers were paired with more experienced colleagues to assess and report on project progress5.

Conclusion

Both technical and management competencies are important components in the skill set for an effective project manager. The relative importance of each can be linked to a number of factors including project size, use of contractors, degree and areas of uncertainty, organisational project management maturity and the availability of training and coaching. In the longer term, all organisations are likely to benefit from a proactive approach to developing a strong resource base of project managers and potential project managers with suitable competencies in both skill aspects.